Efficacy of Kangaroo Mother Care among Low Birth Weight Newborns at a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Aim: To assess the efficacy of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) among low birth weight neonates at a tertiary care hospital Study Design: A cross-sectional study Place and Duration. The Kangaroo mother care ward, CMC Children Hospital, Larkana from August 2019 to February 2020. Methodology: Total 345 low birth weight patients were included. Newborns were kept in KMC position. Axillary temperature was measured during KMC position. Stratification of study variables was done while post-stratification chi-square test or independent sample student t-test was employed to see the impact of effect modifiers on the outcome (efficacy) considering p-value ≤0.05 as significant. Results: Out of a total of 345 LBW neonates, there were 198 (57.4%) boys and 147 (42.6%) girls. The mean age of neonates was 12.01\(\pm\)7.68 days while majority 177 (51.3%) were aged less than or equal to 10 days. The mean body weight was 1997.22\(\pm\)243.48 grams. The mean gestational age was noted to be 35.35\(\pm\)1.37 weeks. There were 104 (30.1%) neonates who belonged to rural areas while 241 (69.9%) were from urban areas. The mean mother’s temperature was 37.58\(\pm\)0.98 C. The mean room temperature was 33.11\(\pm\)2.59 C. The mean initial temperature was 35.40\(\pm\)0.48 C. The efficacy of KMC was observed to be in 242 (70.1%) cases. Conclusion: The KMC was found to be effective and useful in caring LBW neonates.  Further advantages of KMC are low cost, promotion of exclusive breast-feeding and increased mother’s confidence in handling LBW babies.